On January 15, 1943, work was completed on the new headquarters for the U.S. War Department (the modern-day Department of Defense) in Arlington, Virginia. The massive complex, commonly known as the Pentagon, was built to house the nearly 30,000 defense workers tasked with helping America win World War II. With more than 17 miles of corridors, it remains one of the largest office buildings in the world, and has become a symbol—for better and for worse—of military might.
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1. It was actually the second complex built for the military during FDR’s presidency.
In the 1930s, a large complex was commissioned and constructed in Washington’s D.C. Foggy Bottom neighborhood to house the ever-growing U.S. War Department, but before it was even completed, the army determined it to be too small for its needs (this building is now home to the U.S. State Department). As the ranks of the War Department continued to swell, they began to branch out across the city, and were eventually being housed in 17 different buildings. In early 1941, Brigadier General Brehorn Somervell, head of the construction branch of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, was tasked with finding a permanent solution to the space problem. On July 17, Somervell met with architect George Bergstrom, giving him just three days to come up with a design that would accommodate 40,000 employees and 10,000 cars.
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